Ask HN: Best ways to recruit grad students for freelance work? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best ways to recruit grad students for freelance work?

6 pointsreasonattlm2 comments

I am looking to build a modestly reliable stable of graduate level students in a specific field of study (life sciences) for ongoing writing projects that need specialist knowledge: the freelance writing rates on the table aren't likely to be attractive to anyone much beyond the starving grad student years, and they have the necessary knowledge for the job. So hopefully win-win.

Unfortunately, I am so far removed from that stage of life that it's a research project for me to figure out how best to reach that demographic - the times, they have changed.

More generally: how would the minds of HN go about an advertising or recruitment-for-part-work effort targeted at graduate students in a particular narrow field of study? What are the tools and approaches out there that can help with this?

I got caught up in the publishing vice and often tapped into the graduate student pool when I was looking for writers with the research chops to delve into one of my juicier subjects. One of the most effective tools I discovered was to get professors I am friends with to introduce me to professors in the field that I was looking to cover. Once I had my 'in', those professors were always extremely open to introducing me to graduate students they personally know, or more generically, introducing me to Graduate Students' Associations (every University I know of has one, or something similar).

If I didn't know any professors, I would likely go directly to Graduate Student Associations, though be prepared - higher education can feel rather closed off, so they may view you with suspicion until you get your in!

When I was in graduate school, my department's website maintained a list of students who signed up as "tutors", willing to tutor undergraduates in exchange for cash.

Maybe this is less common outside of math (as there were a ton of low-level math courses), but this was surely a reliable way of finding grad students looking for paying work.

But warning: if the projects are ongoing, I feel like you might need to pay well, at least $30/hour. My suspicion is that anyone who would accept less is liable to not be very busy (never a good sign in a grad student).

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